I should have known better than to talk nice about my 10/22. My wife is not an enthusiastic shooter. There have been a number of 'hot' burglaries over in town. These are probably mostly drug-related with the principals being known to one another. However, within the last year or two, someone entered the suburban residence of a retired missionary and his wife and stabbed them to death. The case has gone cold, and no arrests have been made. People get crazy.
For years my wife has depended upon a .38 revolver. She isn't comfortable with this firearm, and she does not shoot it well. If she's close enough to hit someone with it, they are close enough to take it away from her. We tried a couple of other weapons. She's small and recoil-shy; the shotgun isn't going to work. Plus it is fairly heavy and the pump-action is difficult for her to operate. I considered an autoloading pistol with a laser, but she had trouble chambering the initial round. Finally we tried the 10/22. She could easily chamber a round and operate the safety. Her shooting with it -- while no danger to Annie Oakley -- was certainly adequate at inside-the-house distances. She liked the light weight and handiness, as well as the fact that there is no recoil and not a lot of noise. While it is hardly ideal, ten CCI Velocitors more or less on target are far better than five or six rounds of .38 sprayed around the room. Thus my 10/22 has become a house gun.
Never fear, though, I have back-ups. Almost ten years ago, I happened by what was then a new gun shop looking for a particular Savage bolt-action. The dealer did not have what I was looking for, but he did have a couple of little Savage rimfires. One was the just introduced .17 HMR with a bull barrel if I remember correctly. The other was a simple synthetic-stocked Mark II .22LR. This was before the adjustable triggers. I seriously considered the .17, but ammunition was hard to get and expensive, and I wasn't sure it was going to catch on. A .17-caliber 20-grain bullet still seems mighty small to me. They are good if you can get past that. I didn't need another .22, but I figured I could use it to teach the grandkids to shoot or something. It came with a very cheap little Simmons 3-9 scope as a combo deal. I bought it.
I took it out to the range and fired it a few rounds with open sights. It seemed pretty accurate, so I stuck the scope on and tightened everything down. I pulled the bolt and bore-sighted to get the scope at least on paper and proceeded to sight-in. Once I got it lined up, I kept backing off the distance, but the little rifle just kept throwing dime-sized groups. I was impressed.
The one flaw the Savage has is that it will sometimes leave an empty in the chamber. I have to clean it, especially if I switch between Federal or Remington bulk pack ammo and CCI -- the brands I generally use. That is not a big deal, as bolt-actions are very easy to clean anyway, and most of the time a swipe with a Bore Snake is all that is needed to make it all right. The tight chamber is probably a factor that contributes to the rifle's accuracy, so I'm more than happy to meet the demands. Though the barrel length is 21 inches, the Savage Mark II is quite light and easy to carry.
I suppose from years of being a brush-hunter and my predilection for carbines and single-action revolvers, I have an ingrained habit of carrying a firearm muzzle-down by the pistol grip -- as if it were a handgun. Some of my rifles and shotguns are simply too long for this at my mediocre height, and I carry them muzzle-up. The Savage will carry muzzle-down, which means, in any case, that I don't worry too much about the 10-round "banana" magazine protruding so ungraciously from the bottom. Shooting off-hand with a small rifle, I tend to draw my left hand in anyway, bracing my upper arm against my torso. From a sitting position, my left hand is in front of the magazine. Usually it's not in the way, but it is always ugly. I keep threatening to order a couple of 5-rounders from Midway, but every time I think of it, they seem to be on backorder.
The Mark II with its blue steel and black synthetic (plastic) stock is pure utilitarian. It does not have particularly good lines. All it does is shoot. As I said the newer Savage rifles, including some of the rimfires, have adjustable triggers. Fortunately for me, the trigger on my rifle suits me well. No doubt it is heavier than some might like. After a very little take-up, the trigger breaks -- sharp and clean. It is consistent, as you would expect from almost any decent bolt-action. There's no recess on the muzzle but there is a nice crown.
For a sporter .22 of moderate cost, I have no complaints. Over the weekend, I had the Savage out to check its zero and make sure the scope hadn't gotten knocked off. I sat down in a gully with my back to a log and fired at my target a measured forty-five yards away. Without putting too much effort into it, I put three Remington Yellow Jackets into a single ragged hole. This is not a particularly picky rifle when it comes to choosing ammunition. I have not heard too many people tout the accuracy of Yellow Jackets -- or any Remington .22LR, but the Savage handles them quite well.
I have been sorely tempted to get a new .22WMR rifle -- not that I need another one, but the Chuckster has great sentimental value. I am reluctant to take it some places I go. I may still buy one. If I run across one of those stupid Kel-Tec semi-autos, I'll have to duct tape my wallet to keep from getting it. Meanwhile I started wondering if the Savage would not be a good substitute part of the time when loaded with premium ammunition. I was particularly curious about shooting CCI Stingers in the Savage.
I should note that some people warn about Stingers because the case is too long. The overall length of a Stinger is the same as any other .22LR, but CCI generates their 1640 fps by using a shorter, smaller bullet -- 32 grains -- and a longer case to hold more powder. I have never had issues with Stingers. I can understand that match chambers might be a problem, but Stingers shoot and function without any obvious difficulties in all the .22s I have tried. Nevertheless, be advised, they might damage a particular firearm.
Anyway, I decided to try Stingers with the famous water-in-a-closed-container test. I put maybe a quart of water in a coffee can and put the lid on tightly. Since I was pretty sure a close-range hit would be impressive, I moved the can out to 100 yards. My first shot went over the top of the can. It was shooting about three and half inches high. I lowered my crosshairs to the bottom of the can and fired. The can exploded nicely. The thing is that a Stinger goes below the sound barrier around, probably, 125 yards. The water test indicates that the bullet still expands violently at a velocity in the 1150 to 1200 fps range.
Savage makes fine rifles. I know people who do not like them, but if a person is looking for accuracy, a Savage is simply hard to beat.
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